This is Sad, Whether They Make a Deal or Not

We're on the verge of cancellation of the NHL season, and I'm too sad about it. I can't even mock Canada. The Lord of Truth sends along this article, which nails the story, regardless of whether there's a deal or not...

"We might be better off to stop chasing growth and revenue and play just high-quality hockey and let its popularity take care of itself,'' Peter Karmanos Jr., owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, told the New York Times.

"We're not a public corporation,'' he added. "We don't have to have compounded annual growth.''

They won't have to worry about that, at least not for the foreseeable future. No matter when, or in what form the NHL returns, it wont find people clamoring to get back under the tent.

"You hear how certain people believe that the hardcore fan will definitely return, that the damage isn't irreparable,'' Flyers captain Keith Primeau said in Philadelphia.

"I think that's a huge miscalculation or judgment in error of who and what your fan base is. That, I think, is going to alarm a lot of people when the doors are reopened.''

I think they can make a deal. But I also think they're just dumb enough to screw it up.